Gen 2- Chapter 2: Cherry Blossom

It was just before dusk on a Friday evening. Roz and Nikisha had gone to the pier for a late afternoon barbecue. While they were enjoying the gorgeous setting and gentle sunset kisses, He decided this was it.

She looked so amazing standing there. He had been waiting for right moment for months now. The small little box eagerly waiting in his pocket. He pulled her into a warm embrace and whispered softly in her ear.

“I have something I need to ask you.”

“What is it my love?”

He gently pulled away from her and got down on one knee. He pulled the ring from his pocket and said.

“Nikisha Maples-Pie, I love you and I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life making you happy. Will you Marry Me?”

She was so surprised she could hardly contain her excitement. She squeaked and squealed until the words finally came out properly. “YES! Oh Yes, Roz, Yes!”

They stood there holding one another until the last bit of sunlight slipped under the horizon.

This was the amazing story that was regaled to me by Roz. I stood there slightly surprised. Such beautiful and heartfelt words and phrases, nothing like I had ever heard him speak before. I listened in utter anticipation until I heard her answer, but this was only the beginning. He then asked me if I would be a bridesmaid. I was so excited!! I jumped up and down and probably said yes as many times as Nikisha had. I thanked him with a great big hug. My first wedding and I would be part of the party. I couldn’t wait!

Life was beginning to improve and I couldn’t have been happier. Even the girls were starting to lighten up a bit. Tea Rose would come and hang out with me, even if it was just to eat her dinner, while I was doing my homework, I didn’t care. It was a start and it was just nice to have her around. I loved being friends with everyone. My Motto: You can never have too many friends.

Now I don’t know if it had something to with Tea Rose taking the first step, but Misty quickly followed suit. She even met me one day at the front door and invited me to go see a movie with her. At first I thought she was kidding and waited for the punchline to her joke, but when it did not come. I smiled and nodded. I had been to the movies a few times with mom and dad, but never just us girls.

We made it just in time for the 8pm showing of “I Haven’t Met You Yet.” It was a Rom-Com (our favorite kind of movie). It was newly released and the theater was incredibly packed. We ended up finding our seats almost in the very front row. Not the best seats in the house…

After the movie was over, we couldn’t help but joke about the two who were sitting next to us. All they did the whole time was make out. I happened to look over at Misty a couple of times during the movie and the look on her face was priceless. Miss clean stuck next to Mr. and Mrs. Slobber!  We laughed and laughed. I was loving my new sisters. Were they abducted by aliens and replaced with these two? I didn’t really care, and I certainly wasn’t going to complain.

Well when things started to improve for me and Roz, it must have been infective, because the whole house was experiencing bouts of good luck. Even for Mango. No Carmine hadn’t woken up to smell the coffee just yet, but things between him and Pamela were progressing extremely slowly. I guess that was better than nothing.

Double good news it seemed that Pamela would not be able to make it to Roz’s wedding. Awwwwwww.

Mango had been doing her best to try and distance herself from him, kinda preparing for the inevitable, I suppose. She started eating dinner at the counter and trying to find ways to keep herself busy, that didn’t included mooning over Carmine. Deep down he had to have some sort of clue. I think we just needed to wake up his absent minded brain. But how?

The folks were even up to some tricks. It was like jackpot month at the Chiffon’s I swear. They sat us all down  one morning before school and told us they had some exciting news. Something that involved us all. Immediately we all thought the same thing. Good Berry, you guys are too old to be having another baby. They both laughed “oh my no.” They didn’t go into much more detail except to say that we would find out when we got home from school that day. Excitedly we all rushed off to the bus, so we could get back home and find out what the fuss was all about.

We impatiently waited on the bus as we made our long trip home. We jumped off the bus and headed towards the house. We weren’t even on the grass when we saw it. We all stopped dead in our tracks. At first there was only silence. Only sound was the revving of the bus’s engine as it drove away. Quickly though the air was filled with all of our shrieks of utter excitement. “O-M-B!!!”

There…sitting on our front lawn was a brand new Pink 2010 Wornado Triage!! Mom and dad came out of the house and we all ran to meet them. All three of us were trying to talk over each other.

“Is this ours?” “When did you get this?” “Can we drive it?!”

Seeing the only one with her license was Misty, dad handed her the keys.

We grabbed Mango and we all jumped in the car and went for a drive. It was so exciting! All the girls cruisin around town and absolutely parent free! What a great and exhilarating feeling it was! We passed town square when Tea Rose suggested getting our nails done!

Misty Pulled the car around and parked. We all jumped out and headed for the Happy Nails salon. Luckily it happened to be during a downtime for the salon and we all got in right way for our Mani/Pedi packages. Nothing in this world feels as good as pedicure, let me tell ya.

During my foot and leg scrub, I once again had an amazingly brilliant idea come to my brain. After we left the salon I told Mango all about my plan. She too agreed it was a great idea and both of us could hardly wait for the huge “unveiling”. We told Tea Rose and Misty to go on with out us. We had some supplies to get.

Later that night I got a text message from Shelton. He said he was not going to be able to make it to the wedding. Bleh things were slowly beginning to fizzle between us. He was a great a friend and all, but I was not exactly sure if I really liked him “that way”. I acutally wasn’t that disappointed when I got the news. I was going to be plenty busy that day anyways. Probably best if I kept the distractions to a minimum.

The night before the wedding and Nikisha came to stay the night. We were having the wedding in the back yard and her dress and everything were put away in mom and dads closet for safe keeping. Only one night remained for Nikisha until she officially became a Chiffon.